Method and system for determining the legibility of text in an image

• US 7,778,489 B1
• Filed: 11/06/2008
• Issued: 08/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chick, David, Siegel, Hilliard B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassa; Yosef
• Application Number:
  US12/266,444
• Time in Patent Office: 649 Days
• Field of Search: 382/282, 382/286, 382/299, 358/1.2, 358/452
• US Class Current: 382/286
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/993 Evaluation of the quality of the acquired pattern

Abstract

Legibility of text in an image of a page is determined by comparing a measure of the text in the page image with a measure of the page image itself. In one aspect, a measure of the text in the page image may be the height of a line of text, while the measure derived from the page image may be the height of the page image. A text-to-page height ratio is determined and compared to one or more thresholds for determining legibility. In another aspect of the invention, a measure of the text in a page image is obtained by measuring the word density in the page image, while the measure derived from the page image comprises compressing the page image and determining the size of the compressed image file. Legibility is then determined by comparing the measure of word density with the compressed image file size.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for displaying a page image based on a determined legibility of text in the page image, the method comprising:

(a) obtaining an image of a page at a base resolution;

(b) obtaining a measure of the page image height at the base resolution;

(c) performing text recognition on text in the page image to obtain a measure of text height of the text of the page image at the base resolution;

(d) dividing the text height by the page image height to produce a text-to-page height ratio; and

(e) obtaining a new image of the page at a resolution higher than the base resolution when the text-to-page height ratio is below a threshold that indicates legibility.

2. A computer-implemented method for displaying a page image based on a determined legibility of text in the page image, the method comprising:

(a) obtaining an image of a page at a base resolution;

(b) analyzing the legibility of text in the page image and determining that text in the page image is not legible; and

(c) as a result of determining that text in the page image is not legible, obtaining a new image of the page at a resolution higher than the base resolution.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein obtaining the image of the page at the base resolution comprises deriving the image at the base resolution from an original high resolution image of the page.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein obtaining a new image of the page at a resolution higher than the base resolution comprises deriving the new image at a resolution higher than the base resolution from the original high resolution image of the page.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein obtaining the image of the page at the base resolution comprises scanning the page at the base resolution.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein obtaining a new image of the page obtained at a resolution higher than the base resolution comprises rescanning the page at a resolution higher than the base resolution.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein analyzing the legibility of text in the page image includes:

(a) performing text recognition on text in the page image and producing a measure of the text;

(b) comparing the measure of the text in the page image with a measure of the page image itself; and

(c) determining the legibility of the text in the page image based on the comparison of the measure of the text and measure of the page image.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein performing text recognition comprises identifying a spatial dimension of the text in the page image.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the measure of the text comprises a measure of text height in the identified spatial dimension.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the measure of the page image is a measure of page image height in the same identified spatial dimension.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein comparing the measure of the text in the page image with a measure of the page image itself comprises dividing the text height by the page image height to produce a text-to-page height ratio.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the legibility of the text in the page image comprises comparing the text-to-page height ratio to a threshold.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein text recognition is performed on multiple lines of text in the page image.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein performing text recognition includes identifying and counting words that comprise the text in the page image.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein producing the measure of the text includes calculating a measure of word density in the page image based on the number of words in the page image and a spatial size of the page image.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the measure of the page image comprises compressing the page image to form a compressed image file and determining the file size of the compressed image file.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the legibility of the text includes comparing the measure of word density to the file size of the compressed image file.

18. The method of claim 2, wherein the new image of the page is assumed to be legible.

19. The method of claim 2, wherein the legibility test is repeated for the new image of the page at successively higher resolutions until a legible image of the page is obtained.

20. The method of claim 2, further comprising displaying the page image when the text is determined to be legible.

21. A computer-implemented multistage method for automated determination of legibility of text in an image of a page, comprising, under the control of instructions executed by one or more computer processors:

(a) obtaining an image of a page having text therein;

(b) measuring the legibility of the text by applying a first test of legibility to the text in the page image, wherein the first test of legibility includes determining a height of one or more lines of text in the page image;

(c) measuring the legibility of the text by applying a second test of legibility to the text in the page image; and

(d) storing the page image for display if the text in the page image is determined to be legible.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the page image is stored for display if the text in the page image is determined to be legible by either the first test or the second test.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the page image is stored for display if the text in the page image is determined to be legible based on the results of both the first test and the second test.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein if the text in the page image is determined not legible based on the first test, the second test is not applied to the page image.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the result of the first test is one of legible, not legible, or possibly legible, and wherein the second test is applied if the result of the first test is possibly legible.

26. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, if executed by one or more computer processors, cause the processor one or more processors to execute a method for displaying a page image based on a determined legibility of text in the page image, the method comprising:

(a) obtaining an image of a page at a base resolution;

(b) analyzing the legibility of text in the page image and determining that text in the page image is not legible; and

(c) as a result of determining that text in the page image is not legible, obtaining a new image of the page obtained at a resolution higher than the base resolution.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein obtaining the image of the page at the base resolution comprises deriving the image at the base resolution from an original high resolution image of the page.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein obtaining a new image of the page at a resolution higher than the base resolution comprises deriving the new image at a resolution higher than the base resolution from the original high resolution image of the page.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein obtaining the image of the page at the base resolution comprises scanning the page at the base resolution.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein obtaining a new image of the page at a resolution higher than the base resolution comprises rescanning the page at a resolution higher than the base resolution.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein determining the legibility of text in the page image includes:

(a) performing text recognition on text in the page image and producing a measure of the text;

(b) comparing the measure of the text in the page image with a measure of the page image itself; and

(c) determining the legibility of the text in the page image based on the comparison of the measure of the text and measure of the page image.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein performing text recognition comprises identifying a spatial dimension of the text in the page image.

33. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the measure of the text comprises a measure of text height in the identified spatial dimension.

34. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 33, wherein the measure of the page image is a measure of page image height in the same identified spatial dimension.

35. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein comparing the measure of the text in the page image with a measure of the page image itself comprises dividing the text height by the page image height to produce a text-to-page height ratio.

36. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 35, wherein determining the legibility of the text in the page image comprises comparing the text-to-page height ratio to a threshold.

37. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein text recognition is performed on multiple lines of text in the page image.

38. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein performing text recognition includes identifying and counting words that comprise the text in the page image.

39. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 38, wherein producing the measure of the text includes calculating a measure of word density in the page image based on the number of words in the page image and a spatial size of the page image.

40. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the measure of the page image comprises compressing the page image to form a compressed image file and determining the file size of the compressed image file.

41. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 40, wherein determining the legibility of the text includes comparing the measure of word density to the file size of the compressed image file.

42. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the new image of the page is assumed to be legible.

43. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the analysis of legibility is repeated for the new image of the page at successively higher resolutions until a legible image of the page is obtained.

44. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the method further comprises displaying the page image when the text is determined to be legible.

45. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the computing device to execute a multistage method for automated determination of legibility of text in an image of a page, the method comprising:

(a) obtaining an image of a page having text therein;

(b) measuring the legibility of the text by applying a first test of legibility to the text in the page image, wherein the first test of legibility includes determining a height of one or more lines of text in the page image;

(c) measuring the legibility of the text by applying a second test of legibility to the text in the page image; and

(d) storing the page image for display if the text in the page image is determined to be legible.

46. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 45, wherein the page image is stored for display if the text in the page image is determined to be legible by either the first test or the second test.

47. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 45, wherein the page image is stored for display if the text in the page image is determined to be legible based on the results of both the first test and the second test.

48. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 45, wherein if the text in the page image is determined not legible based on the first test, the second test is not applied to the page image.

49. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 45, wherein the result of the first test is one of legible, not legible, or possibly legible, and wherein the second test is applied if the result of the first test is possibly legible.